THE WEEK; Brookhaven Lab Avoids Cuts in Budget

By LINDA SASLOW

Published: March 25, 2007

The $492 million budget for the Brookhaven National Laboratory that was announced last week was better than had been expected earlier this year, the lab's director, Samuel Aronson said, even though it included no increase over last year.

''We were in jeopardy of losing some of our programs,'' Dr. Aronson said. ''After preparing for stagnation and layoffs, the amount we will be getting is quite good.''

The lab, which has 2,600 employees and is financed by the Department of Energy, is annually in jeopardy of money cuts. Dr. Aronson said Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hilary Rodham Clinton and Representative Timothy H. Bishop helped procure the financing for the lab this year.

Of this year's tentative budget, $140.6 million will go for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, one of the lab's most important research operations. It smashes atoms together at high speeds and studies nuclear interactions at very high temperatures, similar to those many believe occurred at the beginning of the universe.

''Last year we had to rely on a private donor to augment our budget, and those funds were not available again this year,'' Dr. Aronson said of the money for the collider. ''Now we will be able to continue these operations.''

Another $25 million will be designated to upgrade the National Synchrotron Light Source, which is known as NSLS-II and has been operating at Brookhaven for 20 years. The NSLS-II accelerates and produces intense beams of light and allows inspection of particles a millionth of a meter long.

The Center for Functional Nanomaterials at the lab, one of five in the country financed by the Energy Department to study the properties of special materials that have applications to energy and medical treatments, will receive $18.9 million. The money will go to complete a center that will begin full operations this year, Dr. Aronson said.

Photo: IN THE MONEY -- One of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider's detectors at Brookhaven National Laboratory, which received its tentative budget. (Photo by John W. Wheeler for The New York Times)